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Thai politics Thailand

What does the rising baht mean to the Thai government and exporters?

For an examination of what the rising Thai baht — previous posts here and here — means to the Thai government and exporters, I suggest this post from James Harriman at Asian Correspondent:

Panic over the rising baht:

…The Thai baht has strengthened significantly versus the US dollar over the last year, as have most other Asian currencies. As of the second week of October, the baht is up 10.8 percent against the dollar, making it the strongest performing currency in Southeast Asia. Factors driving currency appreciations in the region include interest rate differentials with the US, current account surpluses, and positive investment sentiment on local stocks and bonds.

Market watchers anticipate the US Fed will flood the market with additional liquidity in the coming months, which will put further upward pressure on regional currencies.The graph below shows the performance of regional currencies versus the dollar over the last year. All regional currencies have appreciated with the exception of the Vietnamese Dong, which has depreciated almost 10.0 percent.

2010-10-17_thb_usd.png

(Click through to the post to view a larger graph.)

2 replies on “What does the rising baht mean to the Thai government and exporters?”

Hey Newles,

I think the rising bhat means you should cash all yours in for dollars and move back to the States!

Jack

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